U.S. patent number 5,291,006 [Application Number 07/788,569] was granted by the patent office on 1994-03-01 for authenticity identifying system for information storage cards.
This patent grant is currently assigned to NHK Spring Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Hidekazu Hosino, Hiroaki Nishiguma, Yoshiaki Seki.
United States Patent |
5,291,006 |
Nishiguma , et al. |
March 1, 1994 |
Authenticity identifying system for information storage cards
Abstract
To prevent unauthorized duplication of an information storage
cards such as magnetic cards, IC cards, and optical cards, the card
carries an identification region which may be identified by a
simple optical sensor. The identification region may consist of
holograph, diffraction grating, a multiplicity of parallel grooves
and other processed surfaces having certain reflective or
transmissive directivities. In particular, the identification
region comprises a plurality of segments having two or more
different reflective or transmissive directivities, and these
segments are uniformly distributed in the identification region so
that all of the segments may be accessed simultaneously by the
optical sensor which comprises a light emitter and a light receiver
including a plurality of parts each capable of individually
detecting light reflected by or transmitted through the
identification region.
Inventors: |
Nishiguma; Hiroaki (Kanagawa,
JP), Hosino; Hidekazu (Kanagawa, JP), Seki;
Yoshiaki (Kanagawa, JP) |
Assignee: |
NHK Spring Co., Ltd. (Yokohama,
JP)
|
Family
ID: |
27565780 |
Appl.
No.: |
07/788,569 |
Filed: |
November 6, 1991 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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Aug 11, 1989 [JP] |
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1-209065 |
Aug 11, 1989 [JP] |
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1-209066 |
Aug 11, 1989 [JP] |
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1-209067 |
Aug 11, 1989 [JP] |
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1-209068 |
Nov 30, 1989 [JP] |
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1-311422 |
Apr 16, 1991 [JP] |
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3-111158 |
Sep 16, 1991 [JP] |
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3-262764 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
235/454; 235/457;
250/566 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06K
19/16 (20130101); G03H 1/30 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G03H
1/30 (20060101); G03H 1/26 (20060101); G06K
19/14 (20060101); G06K 19/16 (20060101); G06K
007/10 (); G06K 019/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;250/566
;235/454,457,487,488 ;356/71 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Westin; Edward P.
Assistant Examiner: Allen; S. B.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Baker & Daniels
Claims
What we claim is:
1. A system for determining authenticity of an information storage
card in which:
said card comprises an information storage region for storing
information in coded form so as to be accessed by a card
reader/writer, and an identification region having a unique optical
property thereon; and
said card reader/writer comprises means for accessing said coded
information, light emitting mean for projecting incident light upon
said identification region carried by said card, light receiving
means for detecting light reflected by or transmitted through said
identification region, and identification circuit for evaluating
said light received by said light receiving means and producing a
signal for indicating authenticity of said card, wherein:
said identification region comprises a plurality of groups of
segments, each group having a different reflective or transmissive
directivity, said segments in each group being distributed
substantially uniformly over an entire area of said identification
region; and
said light receiving means is provided with a plurality of parts
each capable of individually detecting light reflected by or
transmitted through said identification region, said identification
circuit determining authenticity of said card according to a
combination of said parts which detected light from said
identification region.
2. A system according to claim 1, wherein each segment of said
identification region consists of an area of holograph.
3. A system according to claim 1, wherein each segment of said
identification region consists of a n area of diffraction
grating.
4. A system according to claim 1, wherein each segment of said
identification region consists of a surface provided with a
plurality of parallel grooves having a selective reflective
directivity.
5. A system according to claim 1, wherein said light receiving
parts are arranged around said light emitting means along a common
circle centered around said light emitting means.
6. A system according to claim 5, wherein said light receiving
parts are arranged around said light emitting means along at least
two concentric circles concentric to said light emitting means.
7. A system according to claim 1, wherein each of said segments is
substantially square in shape, and said segments are arranged in a
checkered pattern in said identification region.
8. A system according to claim 1, wherein each of said segments is
an elongated rectangle in shape, and said segments are arranged in
a striped pattern in said identification region.
9. A system according to claim 1, wherein said segments are defined
by different parts of a zigzag linear pattern each containing a
multiplicity of parallel lines.
10. A system for determining authenticity of an information storage
card in which:
said card comprises an Information storage region for storing
information in coded form so as to be accessed by a card
reader/writer, and an identification region having a unique optical
property thereon; and
said card reader/writer comprises means for accessing said coded
information, light emitting mean for projecting incident light upon
said identification region carried by said card, light receiving
means for detecting light reflected by or transmitted through said
identification region, and identification circuit for evaluating
said light received by said light receiving means and producing a
signal for indicating authenticity of said card, wherein:
said identification region comprises a plurality of segments which
are arranged substantially closely to one another within said
identification region so that all of said segments may be accessed
simultaneously by said incident light projected from said light
emitting means; and
said light receiving means is provided with a plurality of parts
each capable of individually detecting light reflected by or
transmitted through said identification region, said identification
circuit determining authenticity of said card according to a
combination of said parts which detected light from said
identification region.
11. An information storage card, comprising:
a card main body;
an information storage region provided in said card main body for
storing information in coded form so as to be accessed by a card
reader/writer; and
an identification region provided on an optically accessible part
of said card main body and having a plurality of groups of
segments, each group having a different reflective or transmissive
directivity, said segments in each group being distributed
substantially uniformly over an entire area of said identification
region.
12. An information storage card, comprising:
a card main body;
an information storage region provided in said card main body for
storing information in coded form so as to be accessed by a card
reader/writer; and
an identification region provided on an optically accessible part
of said card main body and having a plurality of segments, said
segments including those having different reflective or
transmissive directivities and being arranged substantially closely
to one another within said identification region so that all of
said segments may be accessed simultaneously by said incident light
projected from said light emitting means.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a system for determining or
identifying authenticity of information storage cards by means of a
reader/writer to prevent unauthorized fabrication and alteration of
such cards. The information storage cards include, not exclusively,
magnetic cards, IC cards, optical cards and so on which are capable
of exchanging information with reader/writers. The present
invention also relates to such cards provided with an
identification region which cannot be easily duplicated but can be
easily identified without requiring any undue complication of the
card reader/writers.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally, to the end of preventing the forgery of, for
instance, a magnetic card, it has been practiced to use a laminated
structure for its magnetic layer, and to punch holes in the
magnetic card when the magnetic card is not intended for repeated
use. However, such structures can be duplicated with deceitful
intention by the forgers with relative ease, and may not be
sufficient to discourage attempts to illegally duplicate and alter
the card. The internal structure of the card may be made more
complex by known means, but it will lead to the complication and
cost increase of the reader/writers for reading and writing
information into and out of the card.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of such problems of the prior art, a primary object of the
present invention is to provide a system for determining
authenticity of an information storage card by certain
identification means which is hard to duplicate for any
unauthorized person but can be easily Identified with a card
reader/writer without increasing its complexity.
A second object the present invention is to provide an information
storage card which is Suitable for use in such a system.
These and other objects of the present invention can be
accomplished by providing a system for determining authenticity of
an information storage card in which: the card comprises an
information storage region for storing information in coded form so
as to be accessed by a card reader/writer, and an identification
region having a unique optical property is thereon; and the card
reader/writer comprises means for accessing the coded information,
light emitting mean for projecting incident light upon tie
identification region carried by the card, light receiving means
for detecting light reflected by or transmitted through the
identification region, and identification circuit for evaluating
the light received by the light receiving means and producing a
signal for indicating authenticity of the card, wherein: the
identification region comprises a plurality of groups of segments,
each group having a different reflective or transmissive
directivity, the segments in each group being distributed
substantially uniformly over an entire area of the identification
region; and the light receiving means is provided with a plurality
of parts each capable of individually detecting light reflected by
or transmitted through the identification region, the
identification circuit determining authenticity of the card
according to a combination of the parts which detected light from
the identification region. Alternatively, the identification region
may comprise a plurality of segments which are arranged
substantially closely to one another within the identification
region so that all of the segments may be accessed simultaneously
by the incident light projected from the light emitting means.
Thus, the forgery of such cards is made significantly more
difficult than was heretofore since the identification region
consists of a plurality of segments having different reflective or
transmissive optical properties, such as small areas of holograph,
or diffraction grating, or small areas provided with a multiplicity
of parallel grooves, which may be made difficult to analyze or
duplicate to a desired extent. However, identification of the
authenticity of the card can be carried out without increasing the
complexity of the process of identifying the card since it can be
accomplished simply by providing one or more photosensitive light
receiving means.
The actual process of determining or identifying the authenticity
of the card can be accomplished by detecting the intensity of light
received by the light receiving means which includes a plurality of
light receiving parts arranged around the light emitting means
along a concentric circle concentric to the light emitting
means.
The present invention also provides information storage cards
comprising: a card main body; an information storage region
provided in the card main body for storing information in coded
form so as to be accessed by a card reader/writer; and an
identification region provided on an optically accessible part of
the card main body and having a plurality of groups of segments,
each group having a different reflective or transmissive
directivity, the segments in each group being distributed
substantially uniformly over an entire area of the identification
region. Alternatively, the segments may consist of those having
different reflective or transmissive directivities and being
arranged substantially closely to one another within the
identification region so that all of the segments may be accessed
simultaneously by the incident light projected from the light
emitting means.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Now the present invention is described in the following with
reference to the appended drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a card and an essential part of a
card reader/writer according to a first embodiment of the card
authenticity determining system according to the present
invention;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged bottom view of the light emitting/receiving
device of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the identification region of the
first embodiment;
FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing a typical pattern of the
light received by the different parts of the light receiving
device;
FIGS. 5 and 6 are views similar to FIGS. 3 and showing a second
embodiment of the present invention;
FIGS. 7 and 8 are views similar to FIGS. 3 and showing a third
embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 9 is a perspective view Similar to FIG. 1 showing a fourth
embodiment of the present invention;
FIGS. 10 and 11 are views similar to FIG. 3 showing fifth and sixth
embodiments of the present invention; and
FIGS. 12 and 13 are views similar to FIGS. 3 and 4 showing a
seventh embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the authenticity identifying
system according to the present invention which comprises a
magnetic card 1 and a card reader/writer 8. The card 1 is conveyed
within the card reader/writer 8 in the direction indicated by the
arrows by conveyor rollers not shown in the drawings. A magnetic
head 3 included in the card reader/writer 8 writes into and read
out of a magnetic stripe 2 provided on a major surface 1a of the
magnetic card 1.
An identification region 4 consisting of diffraction grating is
provided on the major surface 1a of the card 1 next to the magnetic
stripe 2. This identification region 4 is provided with a property
to reflect incident light of a given wave length projected
perpendicularly onto the identification region 4 to a prescribed
direction as diffraction light.
The card redder/writer 8 further comprises a light emitting device
5 consisting of a laser diode which directly faces the
identification region 4 when the card 1 is in the illustrated
position within the card reader/writer 8. The light emitting device
5 is surrounded by a plurality of parts 6a through 6d of a light
receiving device 6 consisting of a multi-element photodiode which
is divided into the parts 6a through 6d by radial lines. The output
of each of the parts 6a through 6d is connected to an
identification unit 7 which determines the authenticity of the card
1 according to the inputs from the photodiode parts 6a through
6d.
Referring to FIG. 3, the identification region 4 includes a
plurality of rectangular segments. The segments 4a each consist of
a diffraction grating having parallel grooves extending vertically
as seen in FIG. 3 while the segments 4b each consist of a
diffraction grating having parallel grooves extending laterally as
seen in FIG. 3. These two kinds of segments are arranged in an
alternating fashion or in a checkered patters. Therefore, when an
illuminating light is projected upon the identification region 4,
the light reflected from the segments 4a is directed to the parts
6a and 6e while the light reflected from the segments 4b are
directed to the parts 6c and 6g.
In carrying out the process of identification, the card 1 is
conveyed into the card reader/writer 8, and an illuminating light
from the light emitting device is projected upon the identification
region 4. The light reflected from the identification region 4 is
received by the light receiving device 6. The outputs from the
different parts of the light receiving device 6 are supplied to the
identification unit 7 which determines the authenticity of the card
1.
FIGS. 5 and 6 are views similar to FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively, and
show a second embodiment of the present invention. The
identification region 14 comprises segments 14c having obliquely
extending parallel grooves as well as segments 14a having
vertically extending parallel grooves and segments 14b having
horizontally extending parallel grooves.
Therefore, the light reflected by the segments 14a is received by
the parts 6a and 6e, the light reflected by the segments 14b are
received by the parts 6c and 6g, and the light reflected by the
segments 14c is received by the parts 6d and 6h. Otherwise, the
second embodiment is similar to the first embodiment.
FIGS. 7 and 8 are views similar to FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively, and
show a third embodiment of the present invention. The
identification region 24 comprises segments 24c having obliquely
extending parallel grooves as well as segments 24a having
vertically extending parallel grooves and segments 24b having
horizontally extending parallel grooves. Further, the oblique
grooves of the segments 24c are finer in pitch that the vertical
and lateral grooves of the segments 24a and 24b. In this
embodiment, the light receiving device 26 comprises a plurality of
parts surrounding a light emitting device 5, and the parts of the
light receiving device 26 are defined by a plurality of radial
lines and a circle concentric to the light emitting device 5. In
other words, the parts 25a through 26h of the light receiving
device are arranged around the light emitting device 5 in two
concentric circles.
When an illuminating light is projected upon the identification
region 24, the light reflected by the segments 24a is received by
the parts 26a and 26e, and the light reflected by the segments 24b
are received by the parts 26c and 26g. The light reflected by the
segments 24c is received by the parts 26l and 26p because the
segments 24c have grooves of a finer pitch and the reflected light
of the first order is directed closer to the optical axis of the
incident light. According to this embodiment, by varying the pitch
of some of the segments in addition to the direction of parallel
grooves, the reflective property of the identification region is
even more diversified. Otherwise, the present embodiment is similar
to the previous embodiments.
FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 1 and shows a fourth embodiment of
the present invention. In this embodiment, four identification
regions 34 through 37 are provided on a major surface 31a of a
magnetic card 31 in a single row along the direction in which the
card 1 is conveyed. As the card 1 is conveyed, a light emitting
device 5 projects an illuminating light upon each of the
identification regions 34 through 37 in turn, and the light
reflected by these identification regions 34 through 37 is received
by a light receiving device 6 consisting of eight sector-shaped
parts 6a through 6h surrounding the light emitting device 5. The
outputs from these parts 6a through 6h are supplied to an
identification unit 7 which determines the authenticity of the card
1 according to these signals. In this case, it is necessary that
each and every one of the identification regions 34 through 37 is
required to have a prescribed reflective directivity, and the
overall reflective directivity pattern is even more diversified
than the previous embodiments, and authorized duplication of the
card is made even more difficult.
FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 3 and shows a fifth embodiment of
the present invention. In this case, the identification region 55
is divided into five stripes 44a through 44e. In this case, the
segment 44a consists of vertical parallel lines, the segments 44b
and 44e consist of lateral parallel lines, the segment 44c consist
of oblique parallel lines, and the segment 44d consist of oblique
parallel lines which are oblique in a direction different from that
of the segment 44c.
The illuminating light from the light emitting device 5 may be
projected simultaneously on all of the stripes 44a through 44e.
Alternatively, the illuminating light may be projected on one of
the stripes at a time in a sequential manner or, in other words,
may be scanned from one stripe to another. In this case also,
according to the outputs from the various parts of the light
receiving device 6, with or without considering the time sequence
of the outputs, the authenticity of the card 1 is determined by the
identification unit 7.
FIG. 11 shows a sixth embodiment of the present invention in which
the identification region 54 is divided into five stripes 54a
through 54e and each of the stripes consists of a checkered pattern
of two kinds of rectangular segments of diffraction grating. This
shows yet another way to evenly distribute small segments of
diffraction grating within the identification region. This
embodiment is particularly advantageous in discouraging
unauthorized duplication when the illuminating light scans each of
the stripes in a sequential manner.
In the above embodiments, the identification regions consisted of a
combination of small segments of diffraction grating. However, it
is equally possible to use holograph of parallel grooves having a
pitch (for instance, one to 100 grooves per mm) which may not be
fine enough to achieve diffraction of light. Further, the shape of
each segment of the identification region is not limited to be a
rectangle but each segment may also have triangular, circular,
polygonal or other convenient shapes.
FIGS. 12 and 13 show a sixth embodiment of the present invention.
In this embodiment, the identification region 84 consists of a
combination of a first group 85 of parallel V-grooves 86 extending
in the direction of the imaginary line S and a second group 87 of
parallel V-grooves 88 extending in the direction of the imaginary
line T which is different from the aforementioned direction.
Accordingly, the authenticity of the card 61 can be identified when
the light reflected by the identification region 64 impinges upon
the light receiving parts 70a through 70h of the light receiving
device 70 as a pair of elliptic patterns extending perpendicularly
to the directions (imaginary lines S and T) of the grooves 86 and
88 as illustrated in FIG. 13, and this is detected by comparing the
positional relationships of those light receiving surfaces (the
light receiving parts 70a, 70e, 70b and 70f) receiving light of
high intensity. This embodiment is otherwise similar to the
previous embodiments.
Obviously, the present invention is not limited by the above
embodiments but there are other possible variations. For instance,
although the illuminating light was projected from the light
emitting device upon the identification region with a lens
interposed therebetween in the above described embodiments, mirrors
and prisms may be placed in the light path to change the direction
of the light path. A photodiode was used as the light receiving
device in the above embodiments, but a position sensing device
(PSD) may also be used. A position sensing device consists of a
semiconductor device comprising a high resistivity, Si inlayer, a
player formed on one side thereof or on its light receiving
surface, and a n-layer formed on the other side of the inlayer, and
a current proportional to the position of a light spot projected on
the light receiving surface is produce from electrodes provided on
the light receiving surface. Further, although a reflection type
identification region was formed on the major surface of the card
in the foregoing embodiments, it is also possible to place a
similar region on both the surfaces of the card, or to form a
transmission type identification region by providing a transparent
part in a part of the card.
Although the present invention has been described in terms of
specific embodiments, it is possible to modify and alter details
thereof without departing from the spirit of the present
invention.
* * * * *